


The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

by DevinBourdain



Series: Missteps in team building (Keres) [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint Has Issues, Gen, Hostage Situations, Self-Sacrifice, antagonizing the hulk, hiccups in being a team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-22 16:39:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinBourdain/pseuds/DevinBourdain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Tony sat at the bar in the living room poring over files he had managed to obtain from SHIELD through less than honest means. He had been at it all night, and the more he learned the less thrilled he was becoming. The subject of his hack was Keres, the mysterious product of SHIELD that some bad guys had tried to steal a few weeks ago from the bank that Pepper and Barton had been in. The result of their efforts had been a seriously injured Clint, a terrified Pepper and another brush with the secret side of SHIELD.

In the end Keres was safe, the bad guys taken down, Clint on his way to recovery and Tony wondering just who had been more afraid, Pepper or himself. The situation had also brought to light a rather interesting oversight on most of the team's part; their unity needed work, especially where Barton was concerned. The man had an amazing ability to fade into the background, and the team had taken for granted that he was there. Tony required everyone's attention all the time so it wasn't like he was going to go unnoticed, and how could anyone miss Thor in the grand scheme of things? Everyone was aware of Natasha; her 'I could kill you with a paper clip and a straw and not break a sweat' demeanor demanded attention and awareness. Bruce could never fall through the cracks with the team because the Hulk could never fit in any crack, and Steve was so out of place sometimes it was hard to overlook; but Barton liked to fade into the background and unfortunately, as Tony realized, they let him.

The recent situation had made that observation painfully clear to Stark; though he had to credit Pepper with that one too. He might not have realized it if Clint hadn't worked so hard to save the one person Tony deeply cared for; thus exposing the fact there weren't a lot of people willing to do that for Barton himself. Sure Natasha would have done it; she proved that with the whole Loki incident, but when she wasn't there, and there wasn't a long line of people to take her place. Even SHIELD, who Tony thought would always back Romanoff and Barton, what with them being their people and all, deemed the guy to be expendable.

Stark's motivation had been Pepper and her safety; but after almost losing the archer, he told himself that he was going to rectify the situation. Judging by the way it affected Steve and Bruce as well, it was something they were all going to try and work on.

Clint was released to their care a few days earlier, but he was still far from completely healed. The doctors had sent him to Stark tower with crutches that Tony had noticed spent more time in the living room, than with the archer. Clint had hinted that he would appreciate some time alone and the team decided to respect his wishes; well, for a few days at least. In the meantime Tony wanted to find out just what SHIELD was willing to sacrifice his friends for.

"What are you working on?" asked Natasha who had managed to sneak up on the billionaire.

Tony flinched at the unexpected presence over his shoulder, but didn't acknowledge the stealthy spy.

She had a hunch what Tony was doing. She had been informed that he had once again accessed SHIELD systems and had been sent by Fury to find out what he had found out about Keres; apparently the Director wasn't even surprised at this intrusion of their systems. Natasha wasn't sure if she should take it personally or not, that he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was looking at secret documents from her; the SHIELD insignia was prominently displayed for anyone to see that he was up to no good. "I'm going to pretend that I don't see that," Romanoff offered, gesturing to the computer screen.

"It would be better if you did," was the snapped reply.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the lack of fear from Stark. She'd just have to do something to make him slightly wary of her again. It wasn't anything overly personal, she just preferred to put the fear of god in people; Tony merely had an air about him that made Natasha enjoy the prospect all the more.

"Don't give me that look," Stark said without even looking at his uninvited companion. "How's Barton?"

"Asleep." Determined to continue her recon she patiently asked "what have you found out?"

"The usual; your super secret spy club has been up to some not very nice stuff. Maybe you could tell me why they would need something like this?"

"Something like what?"

"Keres. You're telling me you don't know what it does?"

She shook her head. "It's not my mission to know what it is, just that it is."

Stark snorted, and continued flipping through diagrams and charts. "And just what kind of mission is going to require a drug like this?" Tony handed the tablet to Romanoff so she could read the brief on the project.

"You'd be surprised," said Natasha with her usual detached coolness.

"No, I think I just wouldn't like myself in the morning."

The two debated the merits of means and methods versus outcome, unaware of the third party watching them from around the corner.

Barton had wandered out of his room to grab a glass of water, when he heard his name mentioned in the living room; his interest had been piqued and he hobbled towards the entrance and watched the pair at the bar counter. He didn't follow everything they were talking about; his irritation at them discussing him was clouding his focus. He did notice that they seemed rather chummy lately. When the hell did they become best friends?

He knew it wasn't rational, but the thought of Natasha being friendly with Stark angered him. He didn't own her and really she could have any kind of relationship with anyone that she wanted, but watching her there tonight felt like a betrayal of some kind; then there was the fact that their clandestine midnight rendezvous centered on discussing him. Worried that he might do something he would regret later, he stormed back to his room and locked the door.

Clint couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that he should be wary about what his friends might be planning. In an effort to calm his racing mind he grabbed his bow and quiver and propped them on the bed beside him. He spent the night staring at the door; what he was waiting for he wasn't sure, but he couldn't be too careful.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Clint slowly opened his eyes and stretched his aching muscles. He had fallen asleep sitting up; and not only were his healing injuries protesting that idiotic decision, but every other part of him as well. It took a bit of effort and time, but he managed to stagger over to the bathroom and crawl into the shower; the warm water helped soothe the kinks and sore muscles.

Opting for comfort, he grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. He glanced at the bottle of pain killers the doctor had given him and decided not to bother with them again; he'd skipped them yesterday, and the discomfort wasn't anything he couldn't deal with. The rumbling in his stomach reminded him it was time for breakfast, and he began his arduous journey to the kitchen in search of food.

The sounds of morning conversation greeted the archer at the door. Steve and Bruce were debating the legends of baseball or, to Steve, the great players of his time; they were sitting at the table enjoying eggs and coffee, while Natasha was leaning against the counter with a large bowl of cereal in hand.

The second Hawkeye crossed the threshold to the kitchen all conversation stopped; his eyes glanced at his friends, who were all staring at him. Feeling it was far too early to be that paranoid, he gave them a small smile and moved over to the counter. Was it just him or were their eyes burning into the back of his head? He reached towards the cupboard to grab a glass, when Natasha grabbed his arm. In hindsight she probably didn't grab his arm so much as she touched it, but the action still elicited a slight flinch on his part; he just hoped she hadn't noticed.

He looked at his partner and offered a half smile, finding a much larger smile greeting him. She reached behind her and Clint felt the hair on the back of his neck start to stand up.

"I poured you a glass of orange juice," she offered pushing the glass towards him.

Barton looked at the glass then back to the sweet smile on her face and back to the glass; he couldn't shake the feeling that was beginning to brew in his gut. "I'm just going to grab a bottle of water from the fridge" he moved around Natasha to the fridge.

"Suit yourself," she muttered with a shrug, before returning to her cereal.

"There's some eggs left in the pan and toast on the table here," offered Bruce.

"I think I'll just grab a banana," he replied as he quickly surveyed the fridge for something he could have that had a minimal chance of being tampered with. "I'm going to go catch the morning news." With that Barton made the hastiest retreat he could with his injured leg; the second he left the room the morning conversation recommenced. When he was sure he was out of sight he leaned against the wall and let out a sigh. He wasn't sure what it was, but his instincts told him they were up to something and he probably wasn't going to like it.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tony popped into the kitchen and did a quick survey of the room. The usual suspects were there except Barton, who was usually one of the first to arrive. "Where's Clint?"

"He came in earlier grabbed a bottle of water and fruit and said something about catching the news. You just missed him," answered Steve.

Tony mouthed the word Ok and began to rummage through the cupboard "who stole the peanut butter?"

Bruce held up the container. "It's here."

Moving over to the table, Stark took the jar and the financial section of the newspaper from Banner and moved to the fridge. After a few seconds of searching he remembered what Rogers had said and asked, "did Barton steal my banana?" Peering around the door he found all three of his friends giving him a questioning look. "What?"

"There's only one banana in the whole place?" asked Steve with a sceptical tone. In the many times he had stayed at Stark tower, Steve had never known a shortage of anything; in fact Stark usually had excessive amounts of stuff.

"I might have used the rest for a fondue with Pepper the other night, and a tiny experiment last night and they wouldn't have been replaced yet."

"A tiny experiment with bananas? Do we want to know?" asked Natasha with a grin, already envisioning some rather interesting scenarios.

"It might have involved gravity, a potato launcher and the roof."

Now he knew he probably shouldn't ask but deciding Pandora's Box had already been opened, Banner questioned "doesn't one usually use potatoes with a potato gun?"

"And therein lays our experiment. Just for the record, it's a great way to release built up frustration and anger; we could call it phase two, if you care to join in one night Bruce."

"Think I'll pass Tony."

"Suit yourself. I'll be in the lab doing some more research on our last amazing feat if you want to spy on me some more Romanoff," Called out Stark as he left the kitchen, abandoning any idea of breakfast.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clint walked past the living room having no intention of sitting out in the open like that; a sudden need to protect himself against friends crawling into every fiber of his being. Every time he turned they seemed to be plotting against him. Replaying the last few days in his head that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and stopped short as he ran into someone, causing them both to drop the items they were carrying.

"Whoa, in a rush this morning?" asked Pepper who stared at Clint, surprised that the archer had run into her.

"Pepper?" A confused expression crossed his face which threw her for a moment.

"Ya," she replied as she bent down to pick up the pile of papers she had dropped. "how are you feeling?"

Taking the water bottle she had picked up, he quickly began to help her pick up the mess. "I-I'm fine."

Offering him a warm smile, she tried to straighten her stack of papers. "I'm glad to hear that." She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was off about him. Her attempt at getting to know the man better had ended in a hostage situation in which he'd been injured saving her life. While a bond had been established, the situation put a kybosh on the whole getting to know him better aspect. She could have been very wrong and everything was as fine as her friend indicated, but dealing with complicated men like Tony had taught her to trust the pesky doubt that was tickling the edges of her mind. Knowing she wouldn't get anywhere if she started interrogating him outright, she opted to settle for subtle back door tactics. "Well I have to run and get these to legal, but we need to have that lunch you promised we'd do."

"Lunch?"

"Ya, how about one o'clock, my office? I'll have my assistant bring us some take-out; that way we know it won't end like last time."

Clint turned the water bottle over in his hand trying to reduce the urge to fidget. Lunch in Pepper's office should be safe, and take-out meant that the team wouldn't be handling the food. He could use their time together to determine if Pepper was an ally or part of the team's plot; he might even be able to determine what everyone was up to. She always seemed to know what was going on, and might be sympathetic to his position. "I'll be there."

"Good, I'll see you then." Potts turned and continued towards the elevator.

Barton hurried his pace to his room and locked the door behind him. A wave of relief washed over him now that he was safely alone. Again a part of him knew his thoughts and feelings weren't logical or founded, but a troublesome voice told him he couldn't trust the Avengers; that they were scheming against him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Clint stared at the clock on the wall across from his bed; it took forever for it to strike one o'clock. The little voice of doubt had swayed him from going to meet Pepper several times, but when the hour finally dawned he decided to go ahead with his original plan. He ran his hand across his bow and thought of a thousand reasons to take it with him, but no justifications came to mind for having it at lunch with Pepper that didn't sound absurd. Instead he left it on his bed hoping he wouldn't regret that decision.

He took a deep breath and cracked the door open; the hall was quiet and empty. Clint slithered out of his room and proceeded cautiously down the corridor; the coast was clear when he punched the button for the elevator. The lights at the top began to flicker with the passing floors as his ride approached; it was times like these that he wished the tower didn't have so many floors. There were just fifteen left and a few moments to safety, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

On instinct he grabbed the hand and moved to slam his elbow into his assailant. The move was blocked and he was knocked into the wall beside the elevator, facing a now irritated Natasha.

"What the hell Barton?" demanded Romanoff as she released her grip on him and took a step back; it was hardly the reaction she was expecting from her partner.

"Nat- I, um- wait, why the hell are you sneaking up on me?"

"Sneaking up? I called your name from down the hall; and when have I ever been able to sneak up on you anyway?" Her gut told her that something was not right, but she couldn't pin down exactly what; she eyed him carefully looking for any sign that something might be wrong.

Panic started to build as he saw her scrutinizing him; looking for any sign of weakness that she could exploit. The elevator door eventually dinged open and Barton jumped at his escape route. "I have to meet Pepper for lunch" he stammered as he scurried into the elevator and pushed the 'close door' button. He caught the pissed off look from Romanoff in the ever decreasing space between the doors, until it disappeared and the elevator finally began to move.

He leaned in the corner of the elevator and slowly sank to the ground, his leg protesting the whole way; rubbing his eyes with his fist he tried to remember a time he didn't feel like this. Something was wrong and if he listened to that persistent voice it was the team; but something deep down told him to look within. Something was wrong with him; he didn't feel in control. He hadn't felt that way since ... Get your shit together Barton! He thought angrily. The elevator stopped at his floor and he jumped up before the doors opened.

He walked down the hall until he came to Pepper's office. Large windows made up the inner walls and he could see her going over something with an assistant; looking up she offered him a warm smile and waved him in. He walked over to one of the two chairs in front of her desk and flopped into it; the assistant offered him a cheerful smile then went back to the papers she was going over with her boss.

It took about ten minutes but the pair finished up; the assistant thanked Pepper for her time and gave Clint another smile, which he returned with a nod before she left.

"Sorry about that. I promised you lunch and now I'm making you wait."

"It's alright," reassured Clint.

Potts hit a button on the intercom and asked someone to bring in their meal. A few moments later a young man dressed in a suit was placing fine china in front of them and placing various dishes across Pepper's now empty desk; crystal glasses were filled with water and then the man left the pair to enjoy their lunch.

When she had offered to get take out, Barton didn't think it was going to be a big to do as this. He thought she meant ordering a pizza and eating it off of left over Christmas napkins that happened to be kicking around, not five star food, served on hundred dollar plates. He was feeling a little under dressed for a quick bite in her office.

Sensing his discomfort she said, "I know this probably isn't what you had in mind but I thought it was the least I could do to thank you for saving my life. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got a little of everything."

"You don't need to thank me, and a hot dog and beer would have been more than enough; but this is great, thanks." He wasn't a hundred percent sure he could identify everything she had ordered.

They covered the usual topics; the weather, if Barton needed anything while he was staying at Stark Tower that wasn't already available either in his room or elsewhere, sports - but after the weather came up again Pepper decided another direction was needed. Their plates were long since empty and the leftovers cold when she finished giving Clint a brief history of her life. She hoped if he knew more about her it might make him feel more comfortable about opening up; she wasn't really prepared for the question he did pose.

"Have people seem like they've been acting normal lately?"

"Normal? I don't think normal is a word that could ever describe a member of the team."

"Out of character, maybe?"

"Not that I've noticed. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, it's just... forget I said anything."

Potts could tell something was bothering Clint. He still didn't look one hundred percent. "Are you feeling ok Clint? You look kind of pale."

"I'm fine," he reassured her, "just kind of tired lately. That's to be expected though; I think I'm going to lay down for awhile. Thank you for lunch, we should do it again sometime." Barton got up and slowly made his way out of the office and towards the elevator.

It hadn't been the rousing success she'd hoped for, but he did say he'd like to do it again so there was some progress. A couple more lunches and she just might be able to make the solitary archer an included member of the team that was quickly becoming a dysfunctional family; at least they put the fun in dysfunctional.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Stark turned the virtual page on yet another report he was reading about Keres. It was like a train wreck that left the area devastated and strewn with blood and body parts, but for some reason you just couldn't look away no matter how much you might want to. The more he read about the side effects, the more he felt himself becoming a hypochondriac. Maybe the drug's power was not in the serum itself but the reports that identified various ways test subjects became homicidally crazy, causing the reader to start to find the same slow building character defects in them; thus forcing them to read on until they drove themselves crazy with self analysis and... maybe it was time for a dinner break.

Tony put down the tablet and stretched out the kink in his back. Stepping out of the elevator he caught a brief glimpse of Clint down the hall; he watched for a few moments as the agent slinked around the corner, and wondered if Barton and Romanoff ever took a moment off to be normal or if they constantly used their spy tricks with every move they made. "Weird," he muttered to himself as he made his way to the kitchen.

Steve, Natasha and Bruce were sitting down at the table, while Pepper was filling their plates with pasta. The fact that there were only four places set at the table did not go unnoticed; Tony was about to say something when he noticed the plate sitting on the counter.

He was just about to grab it and join everyone at the table when Pepper scolded, "that's Clint's plate."

"Well I don't see him here and I think you forgot to get me a plate. A slight oversight I'm sure and one we can rectify..." replied Tony; while everyone else became infatuated with the table in an effort to not get into the middle of the domestic squabble.

"Why would I possibly forget to set you a plate?"

"I feel like you're trying to tell me something, but we both know I think better on a full stomach."

"Your four o'clock Stark," Huffed Natasha.

"My four o'clock? Where we were supposed to go over next week's presentation; right. Well good news Pep, it's all up here," answered Tony as he pointed to his head.

"That does little good to the rest of us. Now if you want dinner you have to get it yourself, but that plate is for when Clint comes down."

"Yeah, don't think the bird will be joining us. I saw him down the hall playing some super spy game by himself," Stark commented as he piled the noodles on his plate and sat down with the rest of the team.

"Not really the social type is he?" asked Steve.

"Barton is, well...Barton," replied Romanoff with a slight shrug; feeling the need to stick up for her partner even if she felt he was behaving a little off, but considering everything that had happened that was to be expected.

Pepper's phone went off and she glanced down at the message. "Business calls; sorry I have to eat and run, but there's something that requires my attention."

"Business?" asked Tony, his attention piqued at a possible meeting that he was sure he hadn't forgotten.

"Don't worry about it Tony, I have everything under control; I always do. You just go back to locking yourself in your lab, and I'll take care of everything else." She left with a satisfied smirk.

Banner could understand the preference for being alone, but even he had managed to spend time with the different team members; his concern about Barton spiked a little. "Does that include avoiding everyone all the time?" He said glancing at Romanoff.

Natasha shot him an exasperated look "he doesn't avoid everyone all the time."

"Yes he does," injected Rogers, "it's worse since he came back from the hospital and now he includes an 'I could kill you in three seconds' stare if you should happen to be in the same room as him and he doesn't have a way to bolt out of the building."

Something clicked in the billionaire's head as the puzzle pieces started to form a picture; a seed of dread had suddenly sprouted deep in his gut as he tried to put together a timeline of events and observations about the archer. Several of the side effects could explain his behaviour, but when would Clint have been exposed? His mind flashed to the medical report on Barton; there were certainly enough wounds to allow for contamination. Stark flashed to the field report; there was supposed to be three vials but only two were recovered. The third had appeared to be smashed due to the shattered glass that was found in the tunnel. Crap, the thousand cut on Barton's back were probably from the broken vial.

"Tony?" asked Steve for the third time; clearly Stark was going to ignore him.

Tony abruptly stood up and walked towards the door. "Romanoff I need to speak with you," he snapped as he left, leaving no room for argument.

She begrudgingly left her dinner and followed Stark down the hall to the living room.

"Well I guess dinner's over," said Banner as he grabbed his plate and moved back to his lab leaving Steve by himself.

Romanoff stomped into the living room behind Tony. "Despite what you think, I'm not your personal assistant Stark!"

"Whatever. We may have a huge problem with Clint."

"He's going through some stuff; give him a break, he'll be fine. We can't all be like you!" defended Romanoff though she wasn't sure if she believed the words herself.

"In your expert opinion, as his whatever you two are, would you say he's acting normally?"

She wasn't sure what bothered her more - having to admit that there might be something off with Barton that she didn't think she could fix on her own, almost wanting to be truthful with Stark, or the fact that Tony had noticed something was wrong, maybe even before she was willing to admit it herself. "No, he's not," she finally sighed.

"I think he was exposed to Keres." Natasha screwed up her face but Tony continued, "Look, I know it should work faster than what it appears to have done, but it doesn't change the fact that it would explain a few things. It doesn't show up on any tests for several days, so SHIELD wouldn't have caught it."

"They tested everyone at the scene, discreetly of course, and everyone came back negative, including Barton. Hell they tested him four times because they he was around it longer and at the mercy of SHIELD's doctors during his stay in the infirmary."

"If something is slowing down the progression, then it probably wouldn't have presented in the blood work during the window they would have been looking."

"So you're saying there was something wrong with the serum, and it's taking longer to work than it did in the trials and Barton has it? Stark, it's fatal!"

"Right, so I think we need to find him obviously; you can subdue him, cause honestly that will probably set off the whole homicidal paranoia thing. We get him tested and start trying to finish the antiserum they were trying to produce."

Romanoff ran the idea through her head. She wasn't entirely convinced; there were lots of things to excuse his behaviour recently and he didn't seem that bad. She had watched the videos and read the reports after Tony had pulled them off of the SHIELD server. If Tony had sensitive information then someone had to know what he knew; the problem was if they were wrong, Clint would take it personally and probably draw further into himself. The real question was could she afford to be wrong about this?

Her instincts sensed another person enter the room. She knew it was Clint, knew he was behind her. Years of friendship and training allowed her to sense Barton, but she was unprepared for the sharp pain that tore through her skull and sent her off to oblivion.

Stark had been looking right at her and was unable to process the events unfolding in front of him; he had no idea where the hell Barton had even come from. He stood there helpless as he watched Natasha crumple before him and blood started to pool at her head.

"What the hell Barton?" yelled Tony as he realized the archer was standing over his partner with a bloody blunt object in his hand. Is that my math award from school?

Clint just glared at Tony and raised his gun. Pointing the gun at Iron Man, he sized his opponent up. Tony swallowed and raised his hands in surrender; it was the one time in his life he hated being right.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Clint was busy locking the door and destroying the access panel on the outside so anyone trying to get in was going to have to work at it unless they were invited. Tony kneeled on the floor by Natasha with his hand applying pressure to the gash across the back of her head; she hadn't stirred since Barton hit her, but Tony checked her pulse and she was still breathing so it wasn't a life or death situation – yet.

He watched Barton hobble around the room looking for ways that someone might gain access to them. Stark knew he was distracted, but wasn't stupid enough to try and take the man down; distracted or not Barton could still kick his ass without his suit on. He had to get Romanoff some medical attention, but equally as important was getting Clint to a doctor; there was little doubt in his mind now that Barton was suffering the effects of the Keres formula. Stark was pretty sure how he'd been exposed, but somehow they'd all missed the signs until he found himself looking down the barrel of Hawkeye's gun; it certainly looked like the whole 'team thing' still needed a lot of work.

In a weird sort of way he was relieved that the archer hadn't pulled his bow yet; sure the man was deadly with both weapons, it would just seem more real and threatening facing one of the Hawkeye's arrows.

"Hey, Barton - buddy..." Stark tried to get his attention and maybe talk some sense into him.

Turning sharply to face Tony, Clint replied, "I'm not your buddy, Stark."

"OK fine. But what do you say we just calm things down here a minute. We need to get someone here to help Natasha; then you and I can talk a little, tell me what's on your mind."

Barton threw a pair of handcuffs at Tony. "I don't think so. Now put those on her; neither of you are going anywhere. Did you think I'd let you get away with it?" The anger and hate in his voice electrified the air.

"Get away with what?" Barton jabbed the gun in Tony's direction without reply. "Ok, Ok." Tony was running all of his options through his head as he regretfully handcuffed the Black Widow; that would probably come back to bite him in the butt later. There were a surprising limited number of options for the billionaire. Anything he could come up with to subdue his erratic friend would only cause the other man serious harm. As crazy as he was right now, he was still one of the good guys; taking him out should be a last resort.

A horrible sense of déjà vu came over Tony. Not only were memories of his time in Afghanistan running through his head, but the situation was similar to the incident with Loki - minus the whole destroying the world thing; how did Barton manage to be the one forced to play for the other team all the time?

He'd read the files and had a terrible idea what SHIELD would be willing to do to remedy this situation; even assuming Barton lasted that long. The clock was ticking for all of them; Tony could feel his cell in his pocket and an idea started to form. He might not be able to do anything, but if he could get the information to the rest of the team then they might be able to end this situation and start working on a way to save Barton.

With one hand he clicked the handcuffs shut, while the other one started punching commands on his phone; by tapping into Jarvis he got the AI to open a one way communication line to the rest of the team. Barton was paranoid enough right now, without the team being able to contact them through the communication system; but if he could convey a message to them, then they could be brought up to speed with Hawkeye none the wiser.

"Alright it's done," explained Stark, though he wasn't just referring to tying up the assassin.

"Good." Clint holstered the gun and pulled out a second pair of cuffs; Tony rolled his eyes while Clint restrained him.

"Is it really necessary to handcuff me while Natasha is bleeding and unconscious on the floor Clint? I mean what would the rest of the team think; they'd probably think something was wrong, but that busting into the living room would end badly for those you're holding hostage. They'd probably think something was wrong with you, that you were acting out of character; irrational even."

"Shut up Stark! I know what you've been up to; you're all in on it, but I'm not going to let it happen.

"See there's that paranoia creeping up; someone with a doctorial degree should probably look into finding a cure for that."

Clint's anger and frustration was boiling over "I said shut up! Both of you!"

Tony couldn't keep the surprised look off of his face. "Both of us? It's only you and me here Barton; you sent Natasha off to the land of nod, remember?" He watched as Clint turned to the side and engaged in a conversation that was clearly not directed at him.

"I did what you said," Pause. "I'm not going to let you have Natasha," Pause "I won't do your dirty work anymore," Pause. "I won't let any of you hurt me anymore."

"Who are you talking to Clint?" asked Tony; who hoped it might shed some light on how far gone Barton was.

The name was growled. "Loki!"

"Well crap."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Sometimes Steve didn't know why he bothered; he looked at the iPod in his hand and sighed. Why did Tony insist on giving him these devices but no instructions on how to use them? To sit back and laugh that's why. We'll he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction this time; no, this time he was discreetly going to ask Bruce to show him how to work the thing and then astonish Stark by showing him that he was smarter than a piece of pointless technology.

Steve walked up to the lab door and gently knocked on the glass; when Bruce waved him in, he punched in his access code and opened the door. That trick had only taken him four tries to learn he was proud to admit.

"What can I do for you Captain?" asked Banner as he looked up from one of the computer screens.

Rogers silently held up the music player, and Banner gave him a sympathetic smile. He had to admit it was mildly entertaining the first time Tony left Steve struggling with something from the twenty-first century, but now it was just rubbing salt in an already sore wound.

"Apparently this is going to catch me up on the music scene" Steve muttered as he handed the device over to Bruce, who began flipping through the catalog Stark had prepared.

"There are a few questionable choices; but it probably is a nice recap of music over the last seven decades in about four hours."

"Would you mind showing me how to work that thing; if you're not too busy?"

Bruce smiled. "It's actually kind of simple; this button here turns it on."

Rogers watched as Bruce ran through the different buttons and how to work the iPod. When he was done, Steve took the device back and put it in his pocket. "Can we not tell Stark that I needed your help to figure this out?"

"You're secret's safe with me." Bruce had just turned back to his work and Rogers had made it to the door, when one of the monitors flashed and a picture of the living room came into view.

Jarvis's voice grabbed both of their attention. "Sirs, Mr. Stark was rather insistent that you see this video feed. It appears Agent Barton had taken Mr. Stark and Agent Romanoff hostage in the living room."

"Barton!" Repeated the pair unsure if this was a practical joke Tony was playing or not. They watched the screen and listen to the conversation with increasing horror; clear that this was definitely no joke.

"So Tony knows we can hear what he's saying?" asked Bruce.

"Yes, Dr. Banner that is correct," replied the AI.

Bruce looked at Steve "then he has to be talking to us more than he's talking to Clint."

Rogers wasn't convinced "are you sure? The man does like the sound of his own voice."

"Mr. Stark also wanted you to see these files," interrupted Jarvis.

A green icon flashed in the corner of the screen; Bruce selected it before pushing it over to another monitor. A series of documents flashed across the screen, all with a SHIELD logo in the corner. The scene played out before them as they tried to piece together what Tony was trying to tell them; Banner switched his gaze between the video feed and Stark's research, trying to find the connection.

"Romanoff is down," said Rogers pointing to the corner of the screen. "He clearly thinks it's a bad idea for us to try and get in there to help."

Bruce muttered to himself, "acting out of character, irrational, paranoia."

"A person with a doctorial degree?" asked a confused Steve; relaying segments of the conversation in the locked off room.

"He's referring to me. Whatever is wrong with Clint, he thinks I might be able to come up with a cure," Bruce clarified as he began to skim through the documents for the symptoms Tony mentioned; it appeared the other man had done most of the work and highlighted the important parts.

"Loki? What does Loki have to do with this?"

"I'm not sure he has anything to do with it, Captain," answered Bruce as he read the files at a rate that impressed Steve. "If Tony's right about this then Barton's probably hallucinating and, considering what happened to him, I would imagine that the god of mischief is most certainly on his mind.

They watched as Clint paced towards the camera, pulled out his bow and shot an arrow at it; the screen went blank and with it any chance they had of monitoring their friends' situation.

Banner spoke to the AI. "Jarvis, can you reroute and get us another feed of the room?"

"Negative Dr. Banner; Agent Barton has disabled my other sensors in the room. The only way to restore the feed would be to manually reroute them."

"Looks like we're working in the dark Captain; we should probably clear the building in case Clint decides to take this show on the road."

"Right; I'll work on that, if you can put together what Stark figured out and hopefully he had a solution."

Bruce continued to read the files Tony put together while Steve set off on his task. After fifteen minutes Rogers returned to the lab for a progress report.

Without taking his eyes off the screen, Bruce began to summarize. "This seems to be the fallout from the bank incident; those vials SHIELD had are a project called Keres. I don't even know what I can equate it to." He thought for a moment and sighed "basically it was created to be a next generation truth serum, with some rather unfortunate additional consequences. It was designed to be administered to the subject, who would then become highly suggestible; the goal was to interrogate prisoners, then release them as sleeper agents. In short, the subject spills their guts and is then released to take out all their friends; giving SHIELD information and removing a threat without having to use their own people."

"But no one questioned Barton, and who would order him to kill us?"

"The whole project was full of problems; they never perfected the serum. The subjects experienced side effects such as paranoia, hallucinations, debilitating muscle spasms, haemorrhaging, suicidal tendencies and complete breakdowns - resulting in them going homicidal with rage."

"Well I think we have hallucinations and the whole homicidal rage part down. How long does it take to wear off?"

"In 98% of the cases the subject died and it wasn't exactly a pleasant demise. They were starting to develop a counter agent, but the entire project was scrapped and all of it destroyed except for the three vials stored in the vault."

Things always seemed to go from bad to worse; Steve wondered if they were ever going to catch a break. "So that means..."

"If I can't finish their work on the counter agent, Clint's going to die horribly."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence

"Look, I know what you've got going on here is going to make Bruce's issues seem like a two year old having a temper tantrum, but I think we just need to calm down for a second. Loki's not here Clint; nobody's going to hurt you, so you can just stop destroying the room," offered Tony.

Barton continued to pace the room, frantically firing off arrows every once in a while into the walls. Tony wasn't sure, but it looked like the archer was muttering to someone before he fired. The situation was worse than he feared; of all the things that Barton could be hallucinating, Loki probably complicated the situation the most. If anything was going to amplify Clint's rage it would be the god that forced him to kill his friends.

Tony could handle crazy, he worked with crazy; hell, he'd even been accused of it himself. So now it was time to start talking to crazy... "Barton!" he called, trying to get the man to pause for a moment and listen. "What does Loki want you to do?"

Clint came to an abrupt halt and glared at Stark. Part of him knew this was wrong, that this man was his friend; but the voice that had started with the doubt and suspicion a few weeks ago when he first woke up in the hospital, had grown louder - so loud it drowned out his own voice of reason and sense of self. He turned over the key to the handcuffs in his hand; it would be simple to let them go but he couldn't do that. If he let Tony go he'd take Natasha back to Loki and have him turn her the way he had Barton before Manhattan, and the way he had corrupted the team now. "Like you don't know Tony; I'm not an idiot!"

Stark raised his hands in surrender. "Nobody thinks you're an idiot; I just clearly missed the memo about why Romanoff had to have her head bashed in. I mean he wants you to kill us, right?"

Continuing his pacing, Barton snapped, "why would he want me to kill you. You're the ones doing his biding. Natasha- I- I set her free, and I'm not going to let you take her back."

Pressure was nothing new to Tony; he'd been under pressure his whole life and always managed to pull a rabbit out of his hat. He'd become comfortably numb to risk and danger, mostly because the risk and danger involved just him; but lately there seemed to be more lives riding on his decisions and he had a habit of making some historically bad decisions.

Technology he could fix, scientific problems always had a solution, fights with the bad guys always had a clear goal; but how was he, and more importantly who was he, to fix Barton? "I can safely say she's not under anyone's control; but what do you say we let someone take a look at her. You don't want your efforts to save her to be for nothing if she dies from a head wound."

Stark could see the pain in Clint's eyes as he looked at Romanoff sprawled across the parquetry. The wound had stopped bleeding but there was still a puddle on the floor, and she had yet to stir since she had been hit. There was a rare flash in those grey eyes; a moment of clarity that had been missing since this whole thing started - Tony could see the minute tremor in his hand.

Clint looked at Natasha; really looked at her for the first time since he locked them in the living room. He couldn't find any traces of anything that would make him believe that she wasn't on his side, that she wasn't the same person who had his back despite everything he had done. Concern flooded his veins then disappeared under the voice that screamed at him to trust no one He tried to fight it; to grab at the thoughts and feelings that had been his own, had been so crystal clear just a moment ago - but a sudden blinding pain in his abdomen brought him to his knees. He hit the floor and wrapped his arms around his stomach in a futile attempt to lessen the agony.

"Barton!" yelled Tony. He shifted onto his knees to try and crawl over to the doubled over man and offer some comfort. Stark had memorized the list of side effects from the Keres project hoping to diagnose the archer long before it ever got to this point. Really he'd been hoping the nagging hunch he had developed when Clint first returned to the tower and turned into a full blown certainty mere hours ago, would be unfounded and just part of his over active imagination, but when had they ever been that lucky?

Tony was just about to place a hand on his team mate's shoulder, when Barton rolled away and shot to his feet. He pulled his hand back like it might be bitten off and stared up at the archer who was now towering over him. Barton's boot to the shoulder laid Tony flat out on the ground.

"You can't trick me Stark!"

Tony took a few deep breaths to alleviate the throbbing in his shoulder. He was definitely not qualified to deal with an unhinged assassin who was unable to understand reason because of some drug, a clearly more deeply unhinged scientist had dreamt up. He needed help to keep Barton from doing something that the rest of the team would regret. He needed a calm unflappable person to help stall while Bruce was, and he desperately hoped Bruce was, working on an anti-serum.

"Look you don't trust me, I get that, and Romanoff had to be freed, which you did; but what do you say we get someone less corruptible to help you figure out who you can trust?"

Clint thought about it for a moment. It would be nice to be able to trust someone when everyone he thought he could count on was against him. It had to be someone that was removed from the situation, someone Loki couldn't have gotten to, someone who wouldn't lie to him. "I want to talk to Pepper."

That was not the name Tony thought of, nor wanted to hear. "No, let's just leave Pepper out of this one Clint; I think one hostage situation for her is enough. I was thinking more along the lines of the Captain." He had weighed the options and there weren't any. Banner had to take care of the science end of this freak show, him and Romanoff were already up close and personal to the circus, and Fury would probably bring his merry band of leather clad freaks; all of which seemed a little too trigger happy and not the overly forgiving type for his own peace of mind.

That brief moment of clarity was back; Clint relaxed a fraction and some part of him knew bringing in Rogers was the right idea. In that moment, Clint understood what he had to do to protect them all. Deep down he knew who the real threat was and it wasn't a god who, as Stark had pointed out, wasn't in the room; it was him. He didn't think he had the strength to end this, but before that horrible voice reclaimed his mind and allowed him to make everyone he cared about suffer; he had to give them a chance. Steve would do whatever was best for the team; he would protect them with his last breath against anything, including a deranged archer that was currently holding his friends hostage. If it came down to it he knew Captain America would take him out and save the day. That's what heroes did after all.

"Alright; you can let Rogers in." Conceded Barton; then the moment was gone and all that remained were the whispers and screams that told him he had to kill everyone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Banner tried not to let it bother him; then man was only trying to help, maybe. Every time he moved to access a new tablet or turned his head, Steve was right behind him; reading over his shoulder, blocking the way. He knew all of this was over Rogers's head, but he could understand wanting to help and not having the ability to do so.

The answer to his prayers stormed into the room just then. "What the hell is going on?" demanded Pepper. "The building's been cleared? Did Tony blow something up!"

Knowing Tony, he's probably getting Barton to blow up at this very moment thought Banner. "Steve will fill you in," he called over his shoulder and flicked his hand at Steve to go over and explain to the CEO of Stark Industries why they just threw everybody out.

Pepper gave Rogers a stern look and tapped her foot expectantly. She was clearly not taking anything from anyone today; her business meeting must not have been going well or it had been and the evacuation ruined it.

She could be sweet, gentle and caring, but there was still something about her that intimidated Rogers; in the right forum she would be a force to be reckoned with. In the few months that the team had been coming and going from the tower, Pepper had become a friend and ally and, in certain situations, Steve's own personal saviour; unlike other people who resided at the tower on a more permanent basis, she would patiently explain how things operated around the tower, explained her references when she saw him give a small frown when they spoke and more importantly put Tony in his place when he got out of control.

"You should sit down Ms. Potts."

"Steve, I don't want to sit down."

"I really think you should Ms..." Pepper pointed her finger at him causing him to pause. He corrected himself, "Pepper, we have a situation." Steve watched the irritation in her face shift to concern and she absently reached out for the chair. He pulled it out for her and continued, "We think that Barton might have been infected with a serum that, well, makes him rather crazy. He's taken Stark and Romanoff hostage in the living room and so we thought it best to remove everyone in case Barton does something."

She removed the hand she had placed over her mouth in shock. The authority was gone from her voice. "Clint ... something's wrong with Clint and he has Tony and Natasha... hostage; how?"

"We had a video feed to the room, but Barton took that out and Jarvis can't get it back. It looked like he knocked Natasha out and has them both handcuffed. He also has a gun and his bow."

"Wait, you don't think that he'd..."

Honestly, Steve wasn't a hundred percent that the archer wouldn't have done all of this before. He'd seen him overcome Loki and help save the world. He had their backs on the missions since then, and he knew that Clint had saved Pepper at the bank; but the man was a mystery that Rogers never seemed to find time to unravel. They guy could really be capable of anything, and the fact that no one knew anything concrete about his past only let their imaginations soar. Steve had learned a lot about Bruce and Tony, they both shared information about themselves freely; Stark, sometimes too freely.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"This is Clint we're talking about. He wouldn't..."

Banner chimed in, "I don't think he has a lot of choice in the matter; the chemicals are affecting his ability to think. Did the robber inject him with anything at the bank?"

"This has something to do with the robbery?" asked Potts.

"The vials that they stole from the vault contained a serum called Keres. Unless Clint is just having a mental breakdown, all of his behaviours match the side effects to Keres," informed Bruce.

Pepper thought for a moment "we were separated at the beginning, but I think we were together after they retrieved the vials. I didn't see anyone inject him with...wait, the fight in the tunnel. One of the bottles broke; when Clint was fighting with one of the guys and they rolled over top of the shattered glass - he cut his back up pretty good."

"Would that be enough?" Rogers asked.

"Unfortunately, yes" replied the doctor.

"This is all my fault then!" Pepper was clearly upset.

"No," Steve assured her.

"Yes, Steve. He wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me, and he was hurt saving my life; the fight was to protect me. I want to help. What are they doing now?"

"We don't know, we lost contact," answered Bruce.

"Right, Jarvis can't re-establish." She thought for a moment; she'd watch Tony fix problems like this all the time, she must have picked up a trick or two. "I left my tablet in the living room. Jarvis can you use that to give us a feed?"

"I can access the tablet's audio but it cannot produce a visual feed. I will turn the audio on now," informed the AI.

Barton and Stark's conversation began to play on the sound system in the lab. "...but what do you say we let someone take a look at her. You don't want your efforts to be for nothing if she dies from a head wound."

The trio shuddered at the thought of the Black Widow lying unconscious on the floor in need of medical attention, and yet no way for them to get it to her safely.

"Barton!" yelled Tony. Stark's cry was laced with worry and concern, and not knowing exactly what was happening was hard for the remaining team members to take.

Barton's desperation spoke volumes; he sounded like a caged animal. "You can't trick me Stark!"

"Look you don't trust me, I get that, and Romanoff had to be freed, which you did; but what do you say we get someone less corruptible to help you figure out who you can trust?"

"I want to talk to Pepper."

Potts tensed at the mention of her name. Bruce and Stave both glanced at her, unsure why Clint would choose to add her of all people to the mix.

"No, let's just leave Pepper out of this one Clint. I think one hostage situation for her is enough; I was thinking more along the line of the Captain."

Steve's breath caught. What could he possibly do? He was a soldier, he wasn't equipped to try and reason with someone who was beyond all reason. A million ways he could make a horrible situation worse ran through his head. Taking out bad guys he could do, no problem. Fighting in a war; hell, he'd signed up for that. Saving the world; well, he'd done that too. But save Tony and Natasha from a team mate that thought they were all against him?

"Alright; you can let Rogers in," conceded Barton.

"That's not the worst idea in the world," concurred Bruce.

Rogers' head snapped in the doctor's direction. "What? What am I going to do, tackle him to the ground?"

"Well, if you get an opening, you stand a better chance of holding him down then the rest of us." Steve gave him a disbelieving look, but Bruce amended, "You have a very calm demeanor; you won't add any tension to a situation that already has an ample amount and, knowing Stark, he'll probably have Barton riled up pretty good by now. Based on everything I've read so far, I don't think we're going to get him to calm down anyways; but you might be able to keep his attention on you. Let's face it; you can take a hit better than Tony without his suit, or an unconscious assassin being a super soldier and what not."

"So you want me to pick a fight with him?"

"No, just try to calm the situation down, but if you see an opening where you can subdue him gently then take it; otherwise we're going to have to take him down hard, for his own good and hope that's as far as we have to take it."

"Wait, why can't we just sedate him?" asked Pepper.

"They tried that during the trials and the results were disastrous; it basically sets off all of the physical side effects," answered Bruce.

"Dr. Banner, Mr. Rogers and Ms. Potts, there is a call coming from Mr. Stark. Should I patch him through?" interrupted Jarvis.

Pepper answered, "Yes Jarvis."

"Tony?" asked Bruce.

"Bruce! Um, we have a little situation here. Barton-um- well, he's flipped his lid. Did you catch that little dramatic piece I sent you earlier?"

"We're up to date here Stark," added Steve.

"Ah Cap, just the guy we were looking for! How do you feel about making a house call?" Clint fired off a shot, stopping Tony from talking. The bullet slammed into the wall behind the billionaire. "What the hell Barton? I'm doing what you asked!"

There were a few muffled sounds and a couple of words the team couldn't make out then the archer came on the line. "Send the Captain in ten minutes or I'm going to take care of your spies here once and for all!"

The monitor flashed a call ended message. Pepper looked like she was ready to burst into tears at any moment; there was no way this could end well in her mind. If they didn't do something Clint was going to die, and probably take Tony and Natasha with him; but if they did do anything, it sounded like Barton wasn't going to go down easily.

Banner looked at Rogers; he didn't envy the position the Captain was going to find himself in. There was the very real chance that they would have to choose between Clint and saving Tony and Natasha. He did have his own impossible mountain to scale though. There was enough information that he believed he could put together an antiserum; the question was did he have enough time to do it?

"I better get up there," said Steve; he turned and headed to the door. He had just enough time to go and grab his shield and get to the living room before Barton's deadline came.

"Good Luck," called out Bruce as Steve left. We're going to need it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

The elevator ride back up to the living room took an eternity. Steve leaned against the corner and watched the lights to each floor blink; he came to the conclusion that he'd be more comfortable taking on sixty guys with machine guns than what he was about to walk into.

The doors dinged open and Rogers took a deep breath. He gripped his shield in his hand and hoped that Barton hadn't done anything too rash in the ten minutes it'd taken him to get there. He walked up to the door but it didn't open like most of them in Stark Tower did when you stepped in front of them; Rogers raised his fist and tapped it. He could hear Hawkeye yelling something and some response from Stark, before the door cracked open revealing Tony's face.

"Captain," greeted Stark in a serious tone. Eyeing the jeans, blue shirt and Captain America shield he asked "what; you couldn't get dressed for the occasion?" He opened the door wider with his cuffed hands to let Steve enter. Rogers watched as Barton paced back and forth engaged in an angry conversation with some imaginary foe, though it didn't sound like it was Loki any more.

"Who's he talking to now?"

"I A.D.D Cap, but I don't A.D.D that fast."

"What?" asked a very confused Rogers.

"Never mind; I think he's talked to three different people now."

"Stark!" Shouted Clint, who had stopped pacing, and was now pointing his gun at the two men at the door.

"Yes dear?"

Captain America sighed. Could Tony ever be completely serious?

"Who is that?"

"Remember you said that Cap could come up here because you trust him implicitly. He was going to help you figure this out." Stark glared at Steve hoping he would play along with his new version of their conversation earlier.

Clint rubbed his hand across his forehead trying to think. Did he trust the Captain? He wasn't entirely sure how he ended up there; Loki had been threatening him, had put the team under his spell, but that wasn't right. He was on a mission, being asked to do something he shouldn't... no, that wasn't right either. The pain in his chest was back and he sunk down onto the couch. His voice trembled, "right. Get in here; Stark back on the floor and Cap shut the door and take a seat in the chair."

They paused for a moment before moving to where their friend had directed them. Steve sat down glancing towards where Tony and Natasha were. She still hadn't regained consciousness which was adding pressure to the situation.

"What do you say we let Tony take Natasha out of here Clint?" he asked hoping the archer might agree with his plan.

Barton was fiddling with one of the pillows on the couch, but his gun was still in hand and Steve knew how deadly he could be even if his attention wasn't focused on him. The Archer pulled out a knife and began cutting the fabric into a long strip. They both watched Clint, trying to determine what he was up to, and in Tony's case, wondering exactly where Barton was pulling all the weapons from.

Clint walked over to Stark and held out the strip of fabric. "I'm not going to listen to anymore of your lies," he hissed as he moved to gag his captive.

"We don't need to gag me," stated Stark, "I'll just sit here quietly and let you two talk. There's really no need to put that questionable material anywhere near my mouth."

Clint offered a counter offer. "A bullet works just as well at keeping people silent."

"Alright, let's go with the gag."

As Barton finished securing the fabric around Iron Man's mouth, Tony caught that rare glimpse of the real Clint Barton that had been disappearing since the bank incident and had all but evaporated when Romanoff crumpled to the floor earlier. It was a brief moment, but it told Stark more about Clint than anything he had learned about the man since Manhattan.

He knew Hawkeye's plan. The man had just enough reason and clarity left to realize something was very wrong with him; just enough of the Avenger to know he was a threat to his friends and everything he valued. Had anyone else seen it they wouldn't have known what it was, but it hit too close to home for Stark to miss it. It was very similar to a plan he had tried to implement himself before SHIELD had stepped in and pointed him in the right direction to save the day. Barton was going to alienate every one of his friends so when he imploded they wouldn't suffer as collateral damage.

Clint's quick glance towards Steve sent chills down Tony's spine; the archer was going to force the Captain's hand and have him end this before he finally shattered. Stark had an odd sort of respect for him in that moment; the man was willing to do anything to protect the rest of the team, even if it meant taking himself out.

Hawkeye stormed back to the couch and sat himself in the corner. He pulled his knees to his chest and glared at Rogers. He tapped the gun handle against his knee; he knew he had to keep Tony quiet and force Steve into a fight, but the reason why eluded him. It had been right there but, like every thought he had, it seemed to slip through his fingers to be replaced with doubt, fear and suspicion for his fellow Avengers.

Steve saw that Stark was looking at him, trying to convey some sort of message but for the life of him he didn't know what. He took a deep breath and focused on his objectives: get Natasha help, get Tony out of there and try to subdue Barton without anyone getting hurt. "Clint, I need you to listen to me."

Barton stopped his silent mutterings and raised his head to look at Steve. His finger was still on the trigger and the angle at which he had the gun would put the bullet's trajectory right at Tony.

Rogers kept his voice smooth and slow, like talking to a child. "You were infected with a serum that's affecting your mind. It causes hallucinations, paranoia, and violence."

"I feel fine Cap."

"I don't think you do. If you just put the weapons down and let me get Natasha and Tony out of here, then we can get you some help."

The tremble was back in his voice. "Natasha?"

"Ya, you hit her on the head. If we don't get her some help soon, she might not make it."

Not only was Stark helpless in this situation but he was useless too. He watched the rise and fall of Romanoff's chest; she was still with them. He didn't have the medical know how to do anything of any value for the Black Widow; and cuffed and gagged meant he couldn't do anything to help Steve. Their only real hope was going to be if Bruce could find a cure.

Rogers watched in shock as Clint began to shake so hard he fell off of the couch. He had two options; he could take his chance and grab Natasha and Tony and get them out before Barton regained control, or try and subdue the archer. Being the team leader brought a lot of responsibility; and right now a member of his team was the threat.

Going with option B, Steve moved from his seat and towards Barton. Before he knew what was happening, Clint leapt up and tackled him to the ground. Rogers brought his hands up in an effort to block the blows that were raining down on him. The pair rolled across the floor, both struggling to gain the top position.

They traded blows to various parts of the body. Steve had managed to knock the gun free from Clint's holster and it skidded across the floor to where Tony sat next to Romanoff. Stark inched forward and grabbed the weapon which did him little good in this situation. Not wanting Clint to get his hands on it again he tucked it under Natasha's arm to keep it out of sight, but in reach if it came down to it.

Captain America managed to bring his leg up between them and kicked his opponent off. Clint went flying back into the wall and landed on his hands and knees. Steve realized his mistake too late; he had given the archer enough space to pull his bow. In one fluid motion Clint had an arrow pulled and aimed at Rogers. The entire room froze in expectation of what was going to happen next.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Steve looked at the arrow pointed at his head and then to his shield that was laying on the ground; too far away to get to in time if Clint decided to shoot. He could feel the anger and hate flow off of the archer; had seen the look in his eyes many times on the battlefield. There was little doubt the arrow would come flying towards him; but he didn't understand the moment of hesitation.

The tense standoff was cut short as Banner appeared at the door; he was out of breath from running up the stairs. The tense scene was not what he was hoping for. He had heard things escalate over their communications link, but he had hoped Steve would've managed to pin Clint down without any serious injuries, not facing down the shaft of an arrow instead.

Clint kept shifting his focus from his prey to Bruce, but kept his shot lined up on Captain America. The syringe in Banner's hand sent up a red flag, and every fear and thought of betrayal from his friends was proved. He decided to listen to the voices completely now; they hadn't been wrong so far.

If you asked the other three Avengers, they would have said the events took hours; in actuality it was mere seconds. Barton let loose the arrow which slammed into the wall a millimetre beside Steve's right ear. He dropped his bow beside him and grabbed the knife that was strapped to his leg; hurling it towards Bruce. The knife was caught by a large green hand, followed by an angry roar that shook the windows.

Grabbing Natasha's arm Tony dragged her to the side of the room. Rogers still sat on the floor in shock that the arrow had missed him. The Hulk was determined to show everyone that throwing knives at his alter ego was an extremely bad idea...very bad. He swung a large fist in Barton's direction but the other man managed to tumble out of the way causing the Hulk to smash out part of the wall instead. Steve scrambled to his feet, but was flung over the couch by a green hand.

The walls rumbled again, and Stark watched as the green monster tried to catch a very nimble Archer. He was so captivated by the fight happening in his recently renovated living room that he jumped about a foot when a large hand clamped down on his shoulder; he looked up to find the imposing form of Thor standing over him with a bemused look on his face.

"You've got a hell of a sense of timing there Thor buddy."

Taking in the events before him, the god of thunder asked in a somewhat confused tone, "Are we engaging in a training exercise?"

"No, definitely not a training exercise; Clint decided to grab a really big stick and poke a really huge angry bear with it. Now would you mind maybe wrestling that large green grizzly into submission for us?"

"What bear? I can only see the green beast, not this bear of which you speak."

"Never mind; help me with these cuffs would ya," ordered Stark thrusting his cuffed wrists towards Thor. The Asgardian snapped the chain with minimal effort. "You distract Banner while I get the Captain and go after Clint."

Thor wasted no time in body slamming his opponent. To Tony's dismay it was through the wall into the hallway; he tried to ignore the sounds of destruction in the hall, and the mental tally of how much this was going to cost him. He scrambled over to the discarded syringe by the door that Banner had dropped. He hoped Bruce had gotten the note about not using a sedative and that the man had performed a miracle and found a cure.

Clint jumped at the chance to resume his fight with Captain America. While the Captain was picking himself up from behind the couch, Barton had grabbed the forgotten shield and slammed it down on top of the slightly dazed man; he then proceeded to slam the shield into the side of Rogers's head, spraying droplets of bright red blood across the white marble floor.

Tony came up behind the struggling duo, but Clint shifted position and delivered a brutal kick to his chest. He fell hard on his back forcing the air from his lungs and lay on the floor gasping for breath with one hand clasped around his chest. The vicious kick had cracked a rib or two for sure.

Steve could feel the blows raining down on him; he could see Natasha and Tony lying on the ground out of the corner of his eye and something just snapped. He needed to protect his team and his friends, and in that moment, he couldn't figure out how the Archer translated into their group.

He clenched his fist and slammed it into Clint's head. All the rage and frustration that he had regulated to punching bags was released in that moment and Barton went down hard. Steve wasn't done yet though; he pried his shield from his opponent's fingers and proceeded to furiously hit him with it. All of his control went out the window in his quest for release. Release of the burdens he had been saddled with, release of the frustration of his current situation and every other one he had been put in since he became a hero. Release from the unfairness of the universe, and it felt good.

Tony finally managed to pry himself off of the floor and pulled the cap off the end of the needle with his teeth. He crawled towards a barely struggling Barton and an apparently slightly unhinged Captain America who was beating the man to a pulp; he pushed the tip of the needle into Clint's shoulder then threw the empty syringe to the side. His pleas for Steve to stop went unnoticed until Tony yanked hard on his arm and pulled him off of Barton.

Rogers collapsed beside Clint panting and wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked at Stark who was kneeling next to them.

"This team has some serious issues," mumbled Stark as he laid on his back, groaning in pain. Steve just managed an exhausted nod as blood dripped into his right eye.

"Tony, Steve?" called Pepper as she entered what was left of the living room. She quickly found them beside a bloody Clint. Taking in their appearance, it was a tough call who was worse off. "What happened?"

"Oh, the usual; we'll call this typical scenario twelve for future reference. You didn't happen to see which way Thor and the Hulk went did you?" asked Stark.

"Thor's here?" panted Steve.

"What can I say? The man has excellent timing, always shows up in a pinch."

"If the destruction in the hall is any indication, I would say they were making their way towards your storage rooms," answered Potts.

"Did Bruce happen to tell either of you what was in the syringe I just gave Barton?" asked Tony. Steve shook his head; whatever it was it was something the doctor came up with after he came upstairs.

"Some sort of combination of painkillers. He said he thought that was why it took so long for Clint to start showing signs. Something about the scientists using sedatives to put the patients out but not painkillers because they weren't interested in any comfort levels; but Clint was on pain killers at the hospital," offered Pepper.

"Which he probably stopped taking a few days ago," added Tony. "Alright, let's get Natasha down to Medical, then we'll come back and take sleeping beauty. We should probably cuff him in case he comes to," Stark suggested.

Steve silently moved over to Natasha and waited while Tony fished the handcuff key out of Barton's pocket. There was nothing for Rogers to say really; in a moment of blind rage he had let his friends down, he had failed to be the leader they needed him to be but in that brief moment it had felt good. Now he wasn't sure if that moment was worth it.

Stark had un-cuffed Romanoff and he and Steve carried her to Medical; Jarvis assisted with directions for basic medical care until the Hulk gave way to Banner, and then the doctor was able to provide more useful assistance. Steve offered to stay there and play nurse while Thor and Stark rushed back upstairs to retrieve Barton; whose clock was still counting down. Steve wasn't sure he wanted to see the damage his short-sightedness had brought.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

Headache, the word didn't do justice to the way she felt. Her eyes fluttered open and she could hear someone shift in a chair near her.

"Natasha?"

Romanoff tried to connect a name to the sweet soft voice. She was lying down on a bed and didn't remember making the decision to lie down, meaning she was probably in some sort of infirmary. There was no fighting; she was talking to Stark about something. Clint had entered the room and then everything went black. Natasha's eyes shot open and Pepper's blurry face came into to focus. Her voice croaked, "What happened?"

"Barton tried to kill us again," shot Tony who was sitting beside Pepper.

"Tony!" chastised Potts as she slapped him upside the head.

"What? I didn't say he did it on purpose," he defended. Pepper proceeded to glare at him.

Natasha's heart rate started to climb as the situation began to reveal itself from the fog that was blanketing her thoughts. Tony was concerned about the way Clint had been behaving, claiming that he might have been infected with Keres.

Seeing the slight panic that was gripping his injured team mate, Tony explained, "He's fine, well, he's going to be fine. Banner managed to piece together some of the research and has formulated an antidote; we administered it an hour ago, and now we get to just sit back and wait for him to wake up."

"An hour ago? How long was I out?"

"Barton decided to crack you head open about twelve hours ago. Our little hostage situation lasted about six hours. Oh, and thanks for leaving me to deal with that while you had a nap. Bruce found a way to knock Barton out without using a traditional sedative so it would actually work with Keres, and he found a cure about an hour and half ago. So with the exception of your concussion, Steve's concussion, Barton's probable concussion, my bruised ribs and a few cuts, bumps and bruises for Thor, Barton, Steve and me, we're in pretty good shape considering what could've happened" explained Stark.

A wave of relief replaced the growing panic that was gripping at her; Clint was going to be alright. Deep down she knew the definition of alright was not going to be what she hoped it would. He would be fine physically but knowing that he had attacked his team mates, especially after Loki, was going to keep her partner far from alright.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three days later

The Avengers had been gathered; with the exception of Barton, who was still confined to his room on orders from Medical and under the threat that if he didn't stay in bed and rest, he was going to be tied to a bed in Medical aboard the helicarrier. Fury had come to Stark Tower personally for the debrief and a good dressing down; having been informed after the fact, of the events that had transpired. If there was one thing the Director hated it was being the last to know; the first step in showing his displeasure was to keep the team waiting.

Steve sat at the table with his head resting in his hand; super healing powers or not, it was still a little sore. Beside him Banner was cleaning his glasses incessantly to distract himself from the impending stressful situation that usually constituted their debriefing sessions. Across the table Romanoff was glaring at Tony, who was swivelling his chair back and forth.

Thor stood at the window looking out at the city. The meeting room was near the top of the tower and offered an impressive view. He had decided to return and check on his friends but never imagined returning to the scene that had greeted him. Banner had tried to explain the circumstances that led to the archer attacking his friends but the technical babble never made any sense to him.

"Can we expect this to be a regular occurrence?" asked the god.

"Yeah, I imagine Fury will want to scream and yell at us many times in the future there big guy," replied Tony.

"That is not of which I speak; I wish to know if friend Barton will again take issue with us?"

Bruce, slightly impressed at the rather diplomatic way Thor referred to Barton's complete violent breakdown, spoke up first "the latest blood work and analysis reports that there are no traces of the Keres serum present in his system. Medical and I have issued him a clean bill of health and don't foresee any relapses."

"Banner fixed him up real good; it's not going to happen again," clarified Tony with a shake of his head, when he noticed Thor staring blankly at Bruce.

"We need to make sure it never happens again," said Steve giving the group a serious look. He looked like the weight of the world was resting solely on his shoulders. In truth he wasn't just talking about Clint's behaviour.

Tony decided he should try and elevate some of the self placed burden the man had since the standoff ended. "Look Cap, shit happens. It's not like we could have predicted one of us was going to get infected with a serum that makes you go postal worker crazy. We saved him; and you heard Bruce, he's going to be fine."

"You did," muttered Rogers.

"Of course I did." There was a pause "Wait,what did I do?"

"You suspected that something was wrong; you stopped him without trying to kill him. I was prepared to take him out to protect the rest of you, but you didn't even consider it." The slight flinch from Natasha at his admission registered loud and clear to Rogers; he sighed "that arrow missed my head and my view went straight from him being an ally to being the enemy, and all I could think was I had to do what was best for the team."

"You're saddled with being the unofficial leader of this group, unfortunately the hardest decisions fall on you. I probably would have considered it too if it was my head he was trying to bash in. But in all fairness I knew what he was trying to do and if you really want someone to take you..."

Natasha interrupted Stark's justification. "He never misses." The men all looked at her. The interruption was quiet but it grabbed their attention; she looked directly at Steve "you said the arrow missed your head; he never misses."

Any further thoughts were put on hold as Fury burst in the door. "Why is it every time I turn around, all hell breaks loose with you people?!"

"It was an unforeseen event," defended Romanoff.

Stark quickly amended, "Not unforeseen. If you had been straight with us from the beginning we would have known what we were looking at; hell, Pepper would have known to mention possible contamination earlier. Instead you keep us in the dark and look what happened."

The volume of the meeting grew exponentially, but Rogers wasn't listening to any of it; he kept replaying everything that happened. Things had been much simpler in his time; you knew who the bad guys were and the mission objectives were clear. As events kept unfolding, he was beginning to doubt if he was cut out to be the leader of the Avengers. It seemed like everyone else knew something was off with Barton leading up to his attack, except him; but none of them seemed any closer with the man than he was.

There was another nagging part of him that said he didn't want to notice. That despite everything that had happened he still doubted Clint's loyalty to the team; that he still felt betrayed by his working for Loki. He knew it wasn't reasonable; the man had done everything in his power to help them stop the invasion and given the team one hundred percent on every mission after. But when he saw Natasha unconscious on the floor, Tony bound and gagged and felt blow after blow pouring down on him; his brain screamed that Barton was the enemy and needed to be stopped. If he wasn't stopped the rest of the team would suffer, and wasn't one life worth the safety of everyone else? He had been trained to protect the world and at that moment the archer was a threat.

When he watched Barton collapse after Tony jabbed the syringe in his shoulder and injected the contents, a surge of guilt replaced the need to remove the threat; guilt that he had even thought that about his team mate.

Tony's words were playing over in his head. I knew what he was trying to do and if you really want someone to take you...is that what Tony knew? Is that what he was trying to tell him when he was gagged? You said the arrow missed your head; he never misses. Of the very few things Steve had come to learn about Clint, that was one. In that moment he thought it was just the heat of battle or that the serum was affecting Barton's aim as well as his judgement; but now Steve wasn't so sure.

"I need to go," interrupted the Captain. Everyone stopped their arguing and watched dumbfounded as Steve got up and left the meeting; even Fury was too stunned to order him back.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon his return to Stark Tower, Barton begins to demonstrate some peculiar behaviour that could have disastrous consequences for himself and the team causing Steve to make a tough call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Avengers characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.  
> Reviews are always welcome.  
> Warnings: language and violence.

"You should be in bed, not out here on the roof" Pepper admonished as she found Barton leaning over the railing looking at the sunset. She had gone to his room but found it empty; after conferring with Jarvis she had found where Clint had snuck off too.

"I heard Fury called a team meeting." His voice sounded a fraction of what it usually did.

Pepper closed the distance between them and took position at the railing beside him. She took a moment to really look at the man before her; the slumped shoulders, the failure to make eye contact, the weight of the world on him for something that wasn't his fault - it reminded her of Tony at his lowest, and Bruce when he first arrived at Stark Tower. It was quite a group they had gathered together; a group of superheroes that saved the world, but were in just as much need of being saved themselves. "He did; but you're supposed to be in bed resting, which is why he was asked not to include you."

Clint simply huffed and turned his head so he couldn't see Pepper any more. Everything he had worked so hard for was slipping through his fingers; he could feel it and no matter how hard he tried, it was only a matter of time. What was worse was the trail of dead bodies that led to his complete failure was going to be his team mates.

"Yeah sure, I wouldn't trust me either at this point," he mumbled to the cityscape.

"For what it's worth, I trust you with my life."

"You don't have to entrust me with it that often. No offense, but that's kind of the equivalent of saying that pebble over there keeps tigers from attacking the tower."

"I was wondering what was keeping them at bay." Silence fell for a moment, then she added quietly "I trust you with Tony's life."

In the midst of his sea of turmoil and self loathing those few words offered a buoy of hope. The thought that someone he barely knew had given him what mattered most to her, was uplifting and daunting at the same time.

"I'm not going to tell you that it's going to be alright because I know you won't believe me; but you need to know that everyone is fine. The injuries were minor, and they'll all be good to go in no time." She reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder "if you need to talk, I'm willing to listen; and if you think I can't handle it, I know anyone of the team would be willing to listen too."

The door to the roof opened and Steve stepped out. "Can I have a moment with Barton?"

Pepper looked at Clint who gave a small nod. She could feel him tense at the prospect of being alone with Rogers. "This will be alright," she whispered. He knew she meant that he could handle the heart to heart with the man he tried to bludgeon to death in an effort to get Rogers to kill him. As she started to walk away she called out, "remember, anytime you need to talk."

Steve waited a few moments after Potts left before he began to speak. He stayed near the door not feeling overly comfortable with getting into the archer's personal space. The bruises coving Clint's face were still dark and a constant reminder of just how badly he had failed the man. For his part Clint turned around with both elbows resting on the railing, but he refused to meet the Captain's gaze.

Clint beat him to the punch though and spoke first. "I don't know what to say Cap, and Hallmark doesn't make a 'sorry I almost bashed your head in with your own weapon' card."

Rogers had come up here to apologise for losing control of the situation, and instead Barton felt compelled to apologise to him. Steve had been thinking about the whole situation a lot since that night; he remembered on the helicarrier he'd told Banner he didn't care about the man's past actions if Bruce was there to save the world from Loki with them. Why hadn't that philosophy translated to the archer? Maybe because he hadn't experienced Bruce's destruction firsthand the way he had Clint's. Steve countered, "I think I figured out your plan."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"You took Romanoff out first because she knows you; she would have figured it out and tried to stop you. You gagged Tony so he wouldn't be able to tell me, and you went after Bruce because if you got him to lose control he wouldn't be able to stop you either."

"And just what was I trying to stop them from doing?"

"You wanted me to do it. You wanted me to kill you. You assumed that I would if I felt the team was in danger; that I would keep them safe from you."

"Seems like a reasonable request from where I'm standing. You should protect the team, keep them safe."

"There's just one problem with that."

"And what's that?" asked Clint as he stole a quick glance at Steve.

"You're a part of the team. It's my job to look out for you as much as I do them, and I want to apologise for not doing that; for not recognizing what you've been going through, not only since the bank but since Loki too. I haven't been fair to you. I've been so busy trying to pretend that everything is alright and it's not; this whole thing is fucked up. There, I said it."

A small smile graced Barton's lips. "Language Captain. What would your many followers think if they heard such things come from your mouth?"

"The situation called for it," shrugged Steve as he wandered over to the railing to take in the view. "Even when things are stacked against you, you rise above it in the best interests of the team; a team that seems to let you down every time."

"You guys don't let me down, Cap. Seems the only thing I'm good at lately is taking out my own people."

"I know you didn't miss that shot."

"I was there; I saw that I missed that shot." He shrugged "guess I can't say that I never miss anymore."

"You didn't miss Clint. If you bear with us and put in a little more effort on your part instead of keeping your distance..." Clint turned so he was now facing the city instead of the door but Steve caught the eye roll at his words. "Even though you do it because you think it's in our best interests, we might be able to get this team thing working properly. Now I'll accept your apology, as unwarranted as it is, if you accept mine." Rogers reached over and offered his hand.

Clint mulled over the Captain's words for a few moments then nodded as he shook Steve's hand; maybe they could make this team thing work after all.

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to Tracy137 for the terrific beta job!


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